


A piece of paper

by sierraadeux



Series: companions through life [5]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Talks, kind of, like in the only way i can do a proposal, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22913008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sierraadeux/pseuds/sierraadeux
Summary: "You know I don't really see the point, but I would marry you right now if you wanted."
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: companions through life [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617661
Comments: 52
Kudos: 198





	A piece of paper

_“So marriage is just a piece of paper, huh?” Dan rolls his chair to the side to press his shoulder into Phil’s once the game is paused._

_“I said if it’s an unhappy one!” Phil pushes back against Dan, letting his head fall on his shoulder._

_Dan quirks a brow instead of responding, Phil making a face back at him in the monitor in front of them._

_“You know I don’t really see the point,” he concedes, in a softer voice. “But I would marry you right now if you wanted.” Phil presses a kiss to Dan’s throat to emphasize his point, his soft hair tickling at Dan’s neck as he moves his head._

_Dan’s smile pokes a dimple into his cheek as he looks at the two of them in the monitor, “I’m good.”_

_Phil’s absolutely snickering to himself in the ratty green room chair, causing Dan to look up from his scrolling. They’re somewhere in Georgia - Atlanta, Dan thinks - it’s hard to keep track. Phil had just posted a silly picture of them, Phil on a knee and Dan standing over him, recreating a piece of art on the venue wall._

_“What’s so funny?”_

_“Nothing,” Phil gets out through a giggle, “just reading replies on Twitter.”_

_Dan knows there must be a genuinely funny response for Phil to be audibly laughing, so he pushes himself up and steps over to where Phil’s sitting, leaning over behind him to read over his shoulder._

_Phil scrolls back up from where he was and points out a chain of tweets in response to Phil’s picture and each other._

_‘i thought you were proposing’_

_‘We wish.’_

_‘no we do not’_

_“This person’s response is so funny,” Phil laughs, pointing at the last tweet in the chain._

_Dan huffs, rolling his eyes at his idiot boyfriend when he seemingly doesn’t notice he’s just tapped the like button in the process of pointing it out._

_“You just liked that,” Dan hums, stifling his giggle into the top of Phil’s head, the sweet floral scent of hotel shampoo and Phil filling his nose._

_“Oops,” Phil says, but makes no move to immediately undo the like._

_“Oops, indeed.”_

It’s not like it’s really a touchy subject, Dan has his own hangups when it comes to the institution of marriage and they both know there’s no difference in their love whether they’re married or not. They joke and tease and roll their eyes at each other. But also, sometimes, Dan does think about it. Maybe he even yearns for it a bit, especially with where their lives are at currently, but they’re happy how they are. It’s not something they _need_ in order to prove their love to each other. 

After a decade together, Dan can agree that for them, marriage isn’t much more than another piece of paper with their signatures on it. Dan’s last name doesn’t need to be Lester, or Howell-Lester, for him to _be_ a Lester. Because he already is one. He’s been one for a while. 

He thinks that’s why it’s not a big thing, there’s no fanfare or planning to it. It’s spontaneous, but not without thought - because if there’s anything Dan is thoughtful about, it’s his future with Phil. 

It just pops into his head, that incredibly _sure_ feeling he knows he can’t ignore, as he closes the refrigerator door to see Phil attempting to flip a pancake at the stove. 

Phil shuffles the pan - once, twice, three times - and the thin pancake flips into the air. There’s a high pitch squeak from Phil and Dan muffles his laughter behind his hand as the sad looking pancake flops back down, hitting the edge of the pan and landing directly on the stovetop. 

Dan will always be Phil’s best friend, and Phil his, but in this moment Dan has never been so sure about not wanting to be Phil’s boyfriend anymore. 

Phil’s distracted with scraping the burning pancake off the stove as Dan rifles through their miscellaneous junk drawer, the gears turning in his head. He grabs the small roll of clear tape and rips the bottom off of an old grocery list that he always tells Phil to toss in the bin and _not_ shove into the junk drawer. 

Dan folds the strip of paper until it’s a thin rectangle - just long enough to wrap into a small circle when the two ends are connected. He looks back over to Phil, standing in front of the stove with a demolished pancake in the pan, his hands on his hips and a pitiful, exaggerated pout on his mouth. Phil’s in those awful emoji pajamas of his, two mismatched socks that Dan thinks might include one of his own, and definitely one of _Dan’s_ oversized black tee shirts. He has pancake batter on his glasses, flour in his messy hair, and the only thing Dan’s mind provides is that Phil looks like a husband. 

He looks like Dan’s husband. 

“Hey pancake boy,” Dan says in a soft voice and Phil’s head turns from the Pancake Day disaster over to where Dan’s now leaning against the island. 

Phil just pushes his bottom lip out more, whining in the back of his throat. Dan laughs. 

“C’mere,” Dan holds out his hand that isn’t closed around the thin piece of paper and roll of tape. “Give me your hand.” 

Phil obliges, stepping forward. “I have pancake all over me, wiping off my hand isn’t going to do an-” 

“Shh,” Dan interrupts, grabbing at Phil’s left hand. He snorts to himself as he scrapes a bit of dried pancake mix residue off the back of Phil’s hand with his thumb nail. “Keep it here,” he instructs as he lets go of Phil’s hand, biting his lip as he tears off a small piece of tape and tosses the roll on the counter. 

Phil has an inquisitive look on his face when Dan looks back up. It’s one that Dan knows well, the classic “ _I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but I’ll humor you.”_

Dan takes Phil’s hand again, spreading his fingers so he can wrap his makeshift craft around his ring finger and secure it with the tape. He can’t help but smile wider as he notices a few letters of Phil’s rushed scrawl on the paper band, it’s so imperfectly perfect. Incredibly them. 

Dan flicks his eyes up to Phil’s after examining his work, holding Phil’s hand in both of his. Phil doesn’t meet his gaze though, instead looking down at their hands. 

“What’s this?” 

Dan shrugs, giving Phil’s hand a small squeeze, “Just a piece of paper.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i now pronounce you Mr. and Mr. Amazing


End file.
